Jack Ross has vowed that Dundee United will not be ‘tourists’ on their return to continental competition.
The Tangerines are overwhelming underdogs for their Europa Conference League third qualifying round tie against classy Eredivisie outfit AZ Alkmaar.
AZ arrive in Scotland boasting the likes of Bruno Martins Indi, Jordy Clasie, Dani de Wit and prolific marksman Vangelis Pavlidis in their ranks.
United, meanwhile, are back in Europe for the first time in a decade.
But, with Steven Fletcher, Charlie Mulgrew and Tony Watt among a United side which possesses plenty of top-level experience, Ross has no intention of indulging an “inferiority complex”.
“It’s a privilege to lead United in Europe but it’s not about being tourists,” said the former Sunderland and Hibs boss.
“It’s about staying in the competition for as long as we can.
“We have an opportunity to defeat an established European opponent and write our own little piece of European history.”
Belief
He added pointedly: “There can be a tendency in Scotland to have an inferiority complex when we shouldn’t.
“One of our teams (Rangers) reached a European final last season. We have good players and good teams in this league.
“AZ are not an opposition beyond levels that we face within our own domestic league.
“We downplay our own game too much. You’ll see on Thursday night that we have good players who can deal with the football. But we need to have the confidence and belief to show that.
“It is a different challenge, but one we believe we can progress through — but we need to play well.”
Atmosphere
Ross’ rallying cry will be music to the ears of eager Arabs, who are set to make it a boisterous, sell-out occasion at Tannadice.
And the United head coach has urged his stars to use every decibel to drive them on to a famous triumph.
“It’s about feeding into that crowd and being aggressive,” he continued.
“The word ‘aggression’ is often associated with being overly physical. It’s not. It’s about how aggressive we are with the ball and how we press the game.
“We want to embrace everything that will come from the stands.
“We’ve then got to produce a performance that feeds back into that.”
Ross is coaching a team in Europe for the second time in his career, having been dumped out by Rijeka last season while in charge of Hibs.
“I wanted to progress further last year — and I still want to do it this season” he added.
“We’ve been handed a difficult task but it’s not insurmountable.”
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